Criminal Defense

Many jurisdictions have separate home invasion laws. But in Texas, the burglary and criminal trespass laws apply to home invasions. The lack of a separate law forces prosecutors to shoehorn home invasions into a category where they do not naturally belong. As a result, these pros...

At any given time, approximately one out of every forty-three Texans is on probation for something. That’s significantly more folks than the nationwide average of one in every fifty-five people. The vast majority of these people voluntarily agreed to probation as part of a ple...

During plea negotiations, prosecutors often recommend deferred adjudication probation, especially if the defendant has no criminal record. In other cases, judges may be willing to grant deferred adjudication after an open plea. In open plea matters, defendants literally throw the...

Misdemeanor assault, which is in Section 22 of the Texas Penal Code, is one of the most commonly-charged misdemeanors in Tarrant County. In most cases, assaults occur because arguments get a bit too heated. Assault is a Class A misdemeanor, so a conviction could mean up to a year...

Immediate jail release is obviously important for personal reasons. But it is also critical for legal reasons. If the jury finds out that the defendant is in jail, they usually assume that the defendant must have done something wrong. Additionally, even getting to that point cou...

Especially if the offense was a crime of moral turpitude, like assault or theft, a criminal conviction makes it difficult to pursue certain careers, obtain student aid, and do other things which most people take for granted. Fortunately, Texas has a very broad expungement law wh...

Redshirt junior Shai Werts should start against LSU on August 31, after laboratory tests confirmed that the “cocaine” he had in his car was bird poop. In July 2019, Saluda County, South Carolina Sheriff’s deputies pulled over Werts for speeding. On dashcam video, Werts rep...

According to the FBI, police officers make one drug possession every twenty seconds. So, simple possession is by far the most common drug charge in Texas. Although possession of marijuana is usually a misdemeanor, illegally possessing any other controlled substance, including a p...

A classic 1984 study confirmed what most of us already at least suspected: When outside temperatures rise, more people get violently angry. In this particular study, one researcher intentionally sat through a green light at a Phoenix intersection. Other researchers looked on and...

A man is in custody after social media respondents identified him as the man who robbed a Fort Worth convenience store. According to police-obtained surveillance footage, the man went into the store and walked through the aisles, hiding food and other goods in his clothes as he ...